Lum-A-Day 071 – Shinobu’s Cinderella Story

Another episode where they play with the expected genre. Shinobu gets involved with a hoary detective story plot involving a deceased businessman and his offspring who are fighting over the inheritance. The adopted son, Makoto, believes his siblings are trying to kill him and hides at Shinobu’s house overnight.

When Ataru visits her the following night, he gets dragged into the plot too when he finds assassins waiting there for her and Makoto. They try to hide out at school, but are followed by another hitman. However they are saved by the Stormtroopers who had been alerted by Lum after she went to look for Ataru.

The next day at the reading of the will, when Makoto is about to be made CEO, Shinobu arrives and objects to the appointment. She had deduced that Makoto was planning on murdering her to frame his siblings, and confronts him with this, before having him arrested.

A near completely humourless episode, with little to recommend it, outside of the animation. Had the plot been not so cliche that Scooby Doo would have discounted it, this foray into straight drama might have worked. But it’s neither an effective parody nor an effective diversion.

—

Screenplay: Kazunori Ito
Storyboard: Mamoru Oshii
Director: Junji Nishimura
Animation Direction: Asami Endo